FORT PIERCE, Fla. – Defense attorneys representing two co-defendants of former President Donald Trump in a classified documents case are seeking to have the charges against them dismissed. Trump’s former valet, Walt Nauta, and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira are accused of conspiring with Trump to obstruct an FBI investigation into the hoarding of classified documents at the Palm Beach estate. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.
During a Friday afternoon hearing, the lawyers for Nauta and De Oliveira will argue their case before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. The defense is requesting that the charges be thrown out, a motion that is opposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s team, who brought charges against the defendants and Trump. The judge’s ruling on the matter is currently uncertain.
The charges against Nauta and De Oliveira do not involve the illegal storage of documents, but rather their alleged involvement in helping Trump obstruct the government’s attempts to retrieve them. Prosecutors claim that in 2022, Nauta moved numerous boxes from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago to Trump’s residence in order to prevent their return to the government. They also allege that Nauta and De Oliveira conspired with Trump to erase surveillance footage that showed the movement of the boxes and was being sought by the FBI.
The defense attorneys argue that there is no allegation that either defendant was aware of the classified nature of the documents in the boxes they handled. They contend that the charges against De Oliveira lack evidence that he knew about any ongoing government investigation at the time he assisted with moving the boxes.
Meanwhile, Trump himself has separately filed multiple motions seeking to dismiss the charges against him. Judge Cannon has previously denied two of these motions, one of which argued that the Espionage Act statute at the center of the case is unconstitutionally vague, and another that claimed Trump was entitled, under the Presidential Records Act, to retain the classified files as his personal property after leaving the White House.
It remains to be seen how the court will rule on the motions to dismiss and whether the charges against Nauta, De Oliveira, and Trump will stand.